


Aṣl

by Megkips



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Disasporas, Gen, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-10
Updated: 2012-12-10
Packaged: 2017-11-20 20:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/589240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megkips/pseuds/Megkips
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgiana’s past situation is apparent when Masrur first meets her.. She is of age and has no piercing on her lip to show that she is now an adult, capable of handling all responsibilities that are expected of her.</p>
<p>He says nothing on the matter - not to her, not to Ja’far nor to Sinbad or anyone else.  It is her truth to tell, if she wishes to do so, but still Masrur frowns.  The lip piercing is not only a mark of one’s maturity, but shows that a great struggle has been overcome.  He cannot think of any fight greater than the one she must have faced.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aṣl

Morgiana’s past situation is apparent when Masrur first meets her.. She is of age and has no piercing on her lip to show that she is now an adult, capable of handling all responsibilities that are expected of her.

He says nothing on the matter - not to her, not to Ja’far nor to Sinbad nor anyone else. It is her truth to tell, if she wishes to do so, but still Masrur frowns. The lip piercing is not only a mark of one’s maturity, but shows that a great struggle has been overcome. He cannot think of any fight greater than the one she must have faced. He has known similar struggles in Laem, but there had been other Finalis in the barracks with him who sat and taught him about their home culture. Not only about the significance of the lip piercing, but the old songs sung for hunting and charms for good fortune. They had just begun to gather the supplies for making traditional beer - thick, unfiltered stuff requiring a special type of wheat that could only be found in the markets frequented by the slaves of patricians - when Masrur left, taking the open hand that Sinbad had offered.

She has already taken an outstretched hand, leaving Masrur to do the next best thing he can - teach what of the Finalis heritage was passed down to him in Laem.

There are no lectures, no long nights of sitting telling stories of great hunts or of djinn who grant wishes, like Masrur did in his youth. Instead, the knowledge comes in kernels, dispensed when it feels just right. Just right occurs the most during training sessions, when things must be said quickly to impart vital information.

Ϩ

“That is the ϨΗΤ= stance,” he says. The accent is thick and hard for Masrur to remember properly - it has been such a long time since he has heard anyone else speak with the word emphasis that they do on the Dark Continent and the baffled look Morgiana offers him only proves to him just how bad his pronunciation is.

“ϨΗΤ=,” Morgiana repeats, maintaining the position. That she can manage for so long is a testament to her strength, as it requires her to stand on her tiptoes, the rest of her body bent over as if standing on the edge, arms spread out and behind her. 

“Also called the edge position.”

“I can see why. Is there a story to how it came to be?”

Masrur thinks, then shakes his head no. “If there is, I was not taught it.”

Morgiana rocks back onto the balls of her feet, then straightens, admitting that even she finds the stance difficult to keep for too long. Masrur smiles, assures her that he cannot do it at all with the distribution of his strength and they move on to others - some learned from Laem, some invented by Masrur himself in the gladiatorial ring, and some that Morgiana comes up with on the spot, using her agility to her advantage. 

It is when she starts winning every spar that Masrur changes tactics, suggesting that she practice against weapons rather than other bodies now.

“You’ll be more likely to find people with swords and spears to defend themselves,” he adds when he first brings the idea up.

“I know,” Morgiana replies. “When do we begin?”

The _rssssssp_ of Marsur’s gladius being drawn from its leather sheath answers. Morgiana wastes no time in leaping backwards into the Laem defensive stance, feet planted in the ground and body at a forty five degree angle, arms crossed in front of the chest. Masrur charges and training resumes. 

Months pass. They move from sword to spear within a span of three months, but it is there that Morgiana becomes stuck. Spears offer a greater reach and many times she has tried to leap over Masrur, only for the training spear to interrupt what would otherwise be a perfect arc and send her crashing into the ground. It is never graceful, and a few times she looks personally offended at the action. Those are the days that Masrur decides they should end early, letting Morgiana return to her friends and vent her complaints. 

They are good friends, he supposes. Every so often the three of them will pass by, speaking of adventures past and future, smiling because they know that there is so much left to explore. Once or twice, Morgiana admits her own travel desires, certain that no one else but her friends are there to hear, and she glows with pride at their encouragement.

A part of Masrur knows that he has no right to pry into those desires or even admit to overhearing them. The other part, the part that knows that many Finalis struggle in even returning home, feels compelled to ask.

The other part wins. So, during a break in one of their training sessions, when Morgiana has managed the ϨΗΤ= stance on the point of a wooden spear, Masrur asks. His wording is plain, as their friendship has always been without artifice. “When you return to the Dark Continent, what will you do?”

Where others might tap their chin or fiddle their hands as they think, Morgiana curls her toes and the ground curls with her.

“I am not sure. I don’t even know what it will be like.” She says it like she’s thought about the trip so many times that she has accounted for each and every potential difficulty. “The only thing I know is that it will be an adventure and it will be mine alone.”

“Yes, it will,” Masrur agrees. “Resume, or break for the day?”

Morgiana’s answer is a swift foot to Masrur’s chest, taking him by surprise. It is a good blow, a strong blow, and he reels from it, not quite falling over. Masrur regains his balance as quickly as he is able, planting both feet firmly on the ground. Morgiana is now across from him, hunched and ready to leap at a moment’s notice. From how her eyes rest on his legs, she will aim her next attack at his shoulders, flip over and try to kick behind his knees.

He shifts, knowing how to deflect the attack, and in that moment, Morgiana barrels toward Masrur, feet causing the ground to crack underneath. The modification of the traditional hunting snake tackle is confirmation in Masrur’s mind that Morgiana will not only adjust to the Dark Continent, but flourish. Someone else will take her hand and teach her about the lip piercings, the reasons each fighting technique has its name and she in return will teach them of the diaspora, of how all of the Finalis outside their homeland have lived their lives with the strength that they all carry with them as part of their heritage

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this post](http://edencomplex.tumblr.com/post/37636264472/oh-i-just-noticed-all-the-fanalis-that-have-made) that pointed out the lip piercing detail.
> 
> [ أصل, Aṣl:](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%B5%D9%84) meaning root, origin or ground.
> 
> [ϨΗΤ=:](http://www.metalog.org/files/Plumley.pdf) Coptic, meaning belly, heart, edge or tip. I know that Magi has universal language built in, so different languages indicate different accents. I chose to use Coptic for the Finalis because of Laem's colonization of the northern parts of the Dark Continent, corresponding to North Africa where Coptic was (and still is in some parts) used.
> 
> As always, thanks to [Penitence Road](http://archiveofourown.org/users/penitence_road) for the beta.


End file.
